NEW YORK, N.Y. - The Manhattanville College men's basketball 2023-24 campaign ended on Thursday night, as the three-seeded Valiants were bested by second-seeded Yeshiva, 80-61. The Valiants end their season with an 18-9 record, and a 10-6 mark in Skyline conference play. 

Tommy Lotito (Staten Island, N.Y./St. Peter's) led Manhattanville with 20 points on 8-for-13 shooting, flirting with a triple-double grabbing nine rebounds and dishing out six assists, both team-high marks. Andrew Saint-Louis (Norwalk, Conn./Notre Dame Fairfield) followed suit with 16 points of his own, with an impressive 7-of-8 clip from the charity stripe. Ryan Giordano (West Nyack, N.Y./Clarkstown South) rounded out the double-digit scorers with eleven points, and six rebounds. 

In the first half, the Valiants took an 8-7 lead after two free throws from Saint-Louis, but this lead proved to be their last of the contest. The Maccabees then forced turnovers, mounting a 17-8 lead swiftly over the opening nine minutes as the Macs connected on all three attempts from deep capitalized by Max Zakheim. In the final eleven minutes of the first stanza, the Valiants would play the Maccabees closely keeping pace with Saint-Louis scoring ten of his points in the time frame. A Lotito layup would mark the contest at 40-33 in Yeshiva's favor as the game headed into the halftime break. 

Manhattanville shot 44 percent from the field on 11-of-25 in the opening twenty minutes, with a 1-for-6 mark from deep and 10-for-12 from the charity stripe. Despite holding the lead at the break, the Macs shot closely to the Valiants on the floor, for a clip of 46.7 percent. Yeshiva made their money from deep, connecting on half of their attempts from beyond the arc, for a mark of 8-for-16.

The second half would be closely contested, as both teams would trade baskets until the 14:36 mark when the contest sat at 48-43 in the Macs' favor. The Valiant would spark a run of their own, to the tune of 18-11 over the next 6:16 of game time, as Lotito and Marinaccio led the charge to eventually tie the game at 59-59, the closest margin since the first half. The run was capped by a Giordano layup for his eleventh point of the game. Yeshiva would put their foot on the gas pedal, kindling a run of their own as the Macs would jump ahead by ten, 72-62, thanks to ten points from Or Sundjyvsky in the 13-5 run. Manhattanville would attempt to play catchup in the final two minutes of the contest, but it was too little, too late, as the final buzzer sounded on the 2023-24 season, with an 80-68 result. 

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